Angels Watching Over Me
by Emi-Chan1
Summary: Declan investigates a student of his who saw an angel ... but she isn't the only one ... I got the second part done! I think you'll like the ending :)
1. Part 1

This wasn't origionally intended to be a two-part fic, but then it turned out to be *really* long, so I picked a point where I could cut it off (and yes, it *is* a cliffhanger) so I could post the first part, then get the second part up when it's done. This is my first stab at an investigation fic, so I would love to know what you think :)  
  
  
"Good morning, Melanie!" August said cheerfully as she walked into the coffee shop as she did every morning.  
  
"Hi, August," Melanie smiled back, "the usual?"  
  
"Sure," August replied. 'The usual' was a cup of tea in a travel cup. It was up to Melanie to decide what kind of tea it was. As Melanie went about making August's tea, August went to the condement table and got a packet of sugar and a stirring straw. She rummaged through her purse and found the two dollars she needed to pay for the tea.  
  
"It's ready," Melanie called from behind the table.  
  
August picked up her tea and exchanged it for her two dollars. She then went over to a table and lifted the lid off of the cup. It was green tea today. She poured in the contents of the sugar packet and mixed it in. After that she went out the door, habitually saying, "Goodbye," to Melanie.  
  
She walked over to her blue-green Dodge Spirit and opened the door, placing her tea in the cupholder. She turned the key in the ignition and drove out of the parking lot to school.  
  
August drove onto the ramp leading to the highway and instictively searched the oncoming traffic for a place to slip in. Spotting an open space behind a purple convertible, she turned on her blinker and prepared to merge.  
  
What she didn't see was a truck two lanes over that was going to switch lanes into the same spot. By the time she did spot it, there was no way for her to stop. There was a car directly behind her and if she stopped, she would crash right into it.  
  
August braced herself for the crash by closing her eyes and letting out a scream.  
  
The crash never came. August cautiously opened her eyes to find herself driving in her lane with the rest of the traffic.  
  
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone waving at her from the black car next to her. Being so shaken up by what had just happened, she didn't think to wave back, but the person's image did register in her brain as someone she had seen before. When she calmed herself down, she turned around to wave back at the guy in the black car, but he wasn't there.  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*  
  
Aaron waited for August by the door of the Anthropology building. He did this every morning and every day, they would walk to Professor Dunn's class together.  
  
He spotted her familiar red hair and waved. As she walked closer, Aaron noticed that August looked a little ... un-August-like.  
  
"Are you okay?" he asked, "You look like you just saw a ghost."  
  
"I almost got into a car accident," August replied, not mentioning that she *had* in fact seen a ghost.  
  
"You didn't get hurt or anything, did you?" he asked, concerned.  
  
"No, I'm fine," August said, a little less than convincingly as they walked into the building.  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*  
  
"Professor Dunn?" August approached Declan after class.  
  
Declan looked up from his desk, "Hi ... um ... Agnes?"  
  
"August," August corrected.  
  
"August ... right," Declan said, "what did you want to talk to me about?"  
  
"Um ..." August faltered, "You like to investigate miracles, right?"  
  
"Yeah," Declan said, not quite sure where this was going, but very interested.  
  
"Well, there's this guy that I saw this morning, when I was driving to school," she started, "I think he's an angel."  
  
"Really?" Declan asked, even more intrigued.  
  
August went on to explain the whole story. She had almost gotten into an accident, but somehow, without her even trying, she had avoided it. What really caught Declan's attention was how the angel 'disappeared'.  
  
"Have you seen this guy before?" Declan asked, "Before this morning, I mean."  
  
"Well, yes, actually," August said, "this isn't the first time this has happened. One time, when I was really little, about eight, I think, I was leaning over the railing of a bridge that went over a river. Then I lost my balance and was about to flip right over the railing into the water, but then I found myself lying down on the bridge, and he was there, standing over me."  
  
Declan just sat there, wide eyed, "Wow," he said.  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*  
  
"Well, what if his car stalled?" Peggy challenged. Declan had come to her office and given her all the info on his latest 'miracle', "Then, by the time she turned around, he would be out of sight."  
  
"Peggy," Declan said, "she closed her eyes; she had no control of her car. How can you explain her opening her eyes being in the lane with the rest of the traffic?"  
  
"Maybe it's just a --"  
  
"Coincidence?" Declan cut Peggy off.  
  
"It's not altogether impossible, Declan," Peggy reminded him.  
  
"She said that this morning wasn't the first time she had seen him," Declan said, "the angel, I mean."  
  
"Oh?" Peggy inquired.  
  
"She said he also saved her from falling off a bridge when she was eight,"  
  
Peggy thought for a moment, "What if this guy she keeps seeing --"  
  
"The angel," Declan interjected.  
  
"He's not necissarily an angel," Peggy said.  
  
"He could be,"  
  
"You don't know that,"  
  
"Yeah, I'm just saying that he *could* be an angel," Declan argued his point.  
  
Peggy sighed, "Well, what if this *angel* is a hallucination that she made up in her mind?"   
  
"Even if the angel is a hallucination, that doesn't explain the miracles themselves," Declan said triumphantly.  
  
"But there probably *is* a way to explain it," Peggy said, "and I'm pretty sure you'll be able to find it."  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*  
  
Erin DeJong flipped through old family pictures. She had more time to do things like this now that August was in college. She looked through the faded black-and-white photos that captured her youth, and helped her remember her brother, Gerald.  
  
Gerald was very tall: at least six feet. He had the brightest green eyes you could imagine and a nest of haphazardly arranged bright red hair to contrast his eyes. He was the kind of person you couldn't help but be happy around. Even now as she remembered him, his memory didn't make her sad.  
  
Years back, when August had just turned three years old, Gerald was taking her out for a birthday ice cream. On the way back, there had been a car accident. Gerald died saving August's life.  
  
She remembered it very clearly, getting the phone call from the hospital, saying that Gerald was in critical condition, but August survived with barely a scratch.  
  
She only had one scar, a cut on her upper right arm from a shard of flying glass.  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*  
  
Peggy was on her way home from work. It had been a long day. She put her brain in auto-pilot mode as she drove half asleep.  
  
All of the sudden, she felt her foot being guided to step on the break, even though the upcoming light was green.  
  
Then, a car driving on the other street of the intersection ran right through the red light. The car would have hit Peggy.  
  
As Peggy drove through the intersection, something in her passenger seat caught her eye.  
  
There was a girl there!  
  
She looked again to make sure it wasn't a figment of her imagination. Sure enough, there was a little girl, about four years old, with curly black hair sitting in the passenger seat.  
  
The girl smiled and disappeared leaving Peggy to wonder if it *had* been a hallucination. 


	2. Part 2

"So she just disappeared, just like that?" Declan asked in amazement. He and Peggy were having lunch in the hospital's cafeteria.  
  
"Declan, I know what you're thinking," Peggy said, "but it's not necessarily true. I was tired. My mind was probably playing tricks on me."  
  
"Peggy," Declan said, "you almost got hit by a car. You said that you didn't know what made you step on the break, right?"  
  
"Declan, I --" Peggy started, but she didn't get very far.  
  
"This is almost exactly what happened to August,"  
  
Peggy gave Declan a glare, which was met by a serious look from Declan over his glasses.  
  
"Are you sure it was a hallucination, Peg?"  
  
Peggy suddenly got a sad, far-off look on her face, "She looked a lot like I did when I was that age ... but she was different."  
  
"Different?" Declan asked.  
  
"Yeah," Peggy said, "I don't know, I couldn't quite tell what ... but ... what if ... what if it's ... Angela?"  
  
"Angela?" Declan was confused. He knew the name Angela sounded familiar, but who was it?  
  
"I'm sorry," Peggy said, abruptly switching back to her normal self, "I have to get back to work," She got up from her seat and left.  
  
"Peggy, wait ..." Declan called after her, but she was already gone. Declan proceeded to rack his memory for where he knew the name Angela from.  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*  
  
"I don't know," Declan said to Miranda in his office, "I just can't think of any way to test this. I mean, unless we had August carry equipment around everywhere she went until the angel came back, or something like that."  
  
Miranda shrugged. For once, she didn't have any ideas.  
  
"You know," Declan said, "the same thing happened to Peggy last night."  
  
"Really?" Miranda asked.  
  
"Well, almost the same thing," Declan answered, "I guess something made her stop at an intersection even though the light was green, and then someone came the other way and ran the red light. If she hadn't stopped, she would have been hit."  
  
"Was there an angel?" Miranda questioned.  
  
"Yeah," Declan said, "a little girl, about four years old. Peggy said that she looked a lot like she had at that age."  
  
Miranda thought for a moment, "It might have been a memory of herself at four years old,"  
  
Declan shook his head, "She said that the girl looked different, something about the name Angela."  
  
"So what do you think it is?"  
  
"Well," Declan said, "I can only think of two things. It could have been a premonition combined with a hallucination ..."  
  
"Or ..."  
  
"Or it was an angel," Declan said, "both of them are pretty ... out there, but it's all I can come up with. I just wish I could remember who Angela was."  
  
Miranda stood up, "I gotta get to class," she said, "I'll let you know if I come up with anything."  
  
Declan nodded. For a couple minutes, he sat there at his desk, trying to come up with answers, but not getting very far.  
  
"Professor Dunn?"  
  
A voice made Declan look up. It was August. "Hi, August," he greeted her.  
  
"I think I know who the angel is," she said, "I have no idea why it didn't occur to me sooner, but ..."  
  
"Who is it?" Declan asked.  
  
"My uncle Gerald," August answered.  
  
"Your uncle?"  
  
August nodded, "His red hair is unmistakable,"  
  
Declan smiled, "It must run in the family,"  
  
"He died saving my life."  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*  
  
"Gerald was the kind of person who was always happy," Erin deJong said to Declan and Peggy in her living room, "he always told jokes, and even if they weren't funny, everybody laughed, just because of the way he told them."  
  
"He sounds really nice," Peggy said in that psychiatric tone that she had mastered.  
  
"Yeah," Erin said, "I remember when he was in the hospital, dying, even then he had to tell me a joke. It was about a father and a son, and the father was an immigrant from Holland and he insisted that they spoke Dutch in heaven. He said that the Dutch were very good Christians and he thought that God had a special place for Dutch people in his heart. The son disagreed. He thought they spoke English because it was such a common language. If people didn't speak English as a first language, it was usually a second language. Well, neither of them would believe the other, so they continued to argue about it on the way to church. Then they were hit by a car and both of them died and went to heaven. When Jesus came out to greet them, he said, 'Hola! Que pasa?'"  
  
Both Declan and Peggy couldn't help but laugh at the joke.  
  
"I'll never forget what he said next," Erin said with a serious look on her face, "he said, 'I'm going to find out what language they speak in heaven,'"  
  
"You said that Gerald died saving August's life," Declan said, "were they very close? ... Ow!" he said as Peggy gave him a sharp jab with her elbow.  
  
Erin smiled, "It's okay," she said, "Yes, they were very close. Gerald spoiled her rotten, always taking her out, getting her ice cream ... August was his only niece, the closest thing he had to a child of his own."  
  
"Did August ever tell you about seeing the ... Angel?" Declan asked, casting a quick, worried look over in Peggy's direction.  
  
"No," Erin said, "sometimes August keeps those kind of things inside."  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*  
  
"So you actually think it was an angel?" Peggy asked Declan as they walked down the front steps of Erin DeJong's house.  
  
"I think that it's a possibility," Declan said, "I mean, look at the evidence!"  
  
"It's all explainable," Peggy said, opening the door to Declan's truck and hopping inside.  
  
Declan, who was now sitting in the drivers' seat, putting the key in the ignition, said, "Well, maybe, but you have to admit, it's pretty --"  
  
"Weird?" Peggy asked, finishing Declan's sentence for him, "That doesn't mean it's automatically considered a miracle."  
  
"Peggy, she narrowly escaped a car accident," Declan argued his point, "and the guy that she saw saved his life before."  
  
This argument was followed by a glare from Peggy.  
  
"Okay, so maybe he didn't save her *life*, but she could have been hurt," he corrected himself, "and then she remembers that this guy is his uncle, who died saving her life!"  
  
"How do you know it was the same person?" Peggy asked.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean that it could have been someone who looked a lot like her uncle ..." Peggy started, "maybe so much so that she mistook him for someone else. We don't even know that it was the same person both times."  
  
"Oh, sure," Declan said a little sarcastically, "two different people save her life at two different times, and they both have an uncanny resemblance to her uncle who saved her life when she was three."  
  
"It's more plausible than a miracle," Peggy said.  
  
"Well," Declan was getting a little desperate in this argument, "what about the girl you saw in your car? I mean, who was Angela, anyway?" he finally got out the question that had been bugging him.  
  
Peggy fell silent for a few seconds. She had the same sad look in her eyes as when she had first mentioned the name 'Angela.' "Angela was ..." she trailed off, "the baby I miscarried." she managed to say.  
  
There was an uncomfortable silence as Declan mentally kicked himself for bringing the subject up. He knew it was a touchy subject for Peggy. Of course, it also convinced him even more that it was an angel.  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*  
  
"There are a lot of people who believe in angels." Declan said to his class, "They believe that angels are beings that God sends to the earth to watch over us and protect us. Some people think of angels as people with wings and halos and long, white gowns, while others think angels look and dress as everyone else, so their random acts of kindness will go unnoticed. What do you think?"  
  
One of the guys in the class, named Aaron, raised his hand, "Aaron?" Declan called on him.  
  
"I think that angels are there to help us when we need it most," Aaron said, "like when we're about to give up on something, they give us the strength to keep going."  
  
Next, August raised her hand and Declan motioned for her to speak, "I think that angels help us when we don't even know we're in trouble. You know, when something happens so fast that we wouldn't have been able to save ourselves if something hadn't prevented it. It's something that we don't even recognize as a miracle until after it happened."  
  
Declan smiled and nodded, "I think that angels can sometimes help us when we ask for it, but also when we least expect it. A random act of kindness that can inspire us to perform our own acts of kindness which can set off a chain of little acts of kindness that nobody really notices, but it makes a difference."  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*  
  
Peggy sat in front of Angela's tiny grave. She hadn't been here for a while, but the events of the past few days just seemed to drive her here. She couldn't keep herself away.  
  
With her finger, Peggy softly went over the letters engraved in the stone.  
  
ANGELA FOWLER  
  
She closed her eyes for a few seconds, and when she opened them, she noticed a tiny hand placed on top of hers. She lifted her head to find herself staring straight into the eyes of the little girl she had seen in her car. She had Adam's eyes.  
  
She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see Adam sitting on the grass next to her. He was smiling. She smiled back.  
  
Then they both disappeared, but with their absence, Peggy was left with a feeling of peace she hadn't felt since Adam died.  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*  
  
" ... so you don't want me to investigate it anymore?" Declan asked August.  
  
"I already know it's a miracle," August replied, "I don't need any more proof."  
  
Declan nodded, but August felt that she needed to explain, "You see, yesterday, I was flipping through my Bible when I came across this passage." She pulled a leather Bible out of her backpack, opened it to the correct place and handed it to him, saying, "Read John 20:29"  
  
Declan looked at the printed words, "Then Jesus told him, 'Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'"  
  
"I realized that even though I had seen this miracle, I didn't believe it. I felt I needed more proof, but I don't need any more proof than what I already had. I was saved from a car accident by my guardian angel!" As she spoke, a smile spread across her face.  
  
Her smile was contagious and Declan couldn't help smile along with her, "Yeah," he said, "I understand."  
  
"Thanks," August said. She took her Bible and left the room.  
  
A few seconds after August left, Declan saw someone else enter the room. He immediately recognized it as the man who had saved him from the avalanche. He was still dressed as he had been before: a windbreaker suit with heavy boots and a helmet on his head, covering his face.  
  
Without saying a word, the man took off the helmet, revealing his face.  
  
Declan's jaw dropped. "Dad?"  
  
*~The End~*  
  
Yaaaaaay!!! I finished it!!!! And I'm using waaaay too many exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, did you notice how I kinda worked in a conclusion to Memorial Day? Pleeeeeease tell me what you think!!!!!!!!!!!!  



End file.
